Apparently if he's found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm, he could be facing 3.5 years of prison, minimum. What do you guys think of this? Do you think it's justified that athletes carry guns?

I personally think that athletes do need protection as they are targets to criminals who know that they are rich. However, maybe hiring bodyguards would have been smarter, especially in Plaxico's situation.

Laws are laws and just because you have a fat contract doesn't mean the law is any different for you.

I will acknowledge, however, that athletes are often the targets of wrong doers and do need protection. The protection, however, should be a bodyguard - not heat stuffed in your pants while you're getting hammered.

Another thing to consider for Plax and other athletes - if you're going to a place where you think you'll need a gun to feel safe, should you really be going there?

First comes the gate, a heavy metal barrier that halts visitors' cars about 100 feet from Clinton Portis' waterfront condo in Miami. It's manned by a security guard who reaches out from behind thick glass to check the ID of each driver and passenger, while high-tech cameras snap pictures of their faces and license plates, before allowing them to pass. The immaculately groomed grounds of cobblestone and palm trees are fortified with well-disguised cameras by the front door, the loading dock, the concierge desk and the private guest elevator. After navigating past those, plus a metal door secured with a dead bolt and a wall-mounted computerized alarm system, guests are finally allowed entry into Portis' sanctuary in the sky.

Enjoying a rare weekend off, the NFL's second-leading rusher is on his couch, yawning constantly while watching college football. He's wearing pajama pants, orange footies and a white T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of friend and departed Skins teammate Sean Taylor. Favoring a sore left knee, Portis shuffles across his marble floor to show off the views. To the east, windsurfers ride the glassy waters of the bay. To the west, Miami's skyline. And behind the blinds to the north: another shiny condo tower, where a woman stands on her balcony, peering directly at a startled Portis.

You can see the impact of Taylor's death in the body language of 315-pound Chiefs rookie Branden Albert as he leaves a club, checking and rechecking his rearview mirror to make sure he isn't being followed. It's in the nervous laughter of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger when he recalls the time a weapon was waved in his face. It compels Jaguars running back Fred Taylor to use the car with the less showy factory rims when he goes out at night.

The moment perfectly captures how NFL players feel these days. On Nov. 26, 2007, Taylor was shot by intruders in the bedroom of his Miami home while his girlfriend and 18-month-old daughter hid under the covers. The botched robbery attempt was another horrific chapter of a crime wave against pro athletes, one that's shocked NFL players into a paradigm shift in self-awareness and security. Yet no matter how closely they protect themselves, many still can't shake the feeling that someone is out there, just beyond the blinds, lurking. "I don't think the NFL is gonna ever be the same," says Portis. "As a football player, Sean thrived on instilling fear in people on the field. Then you wake up in the middle of the night, and you hear something rattling around in your house, and in a split second—now the fear is in you."

You can see the impact of Taylor's death in the body language of 315-pound Chiefs rookie Branden Albert as he leaves a club, checking and rechecking his rearview mirror to make sure he isn't being followed. It's in the nervous laughter of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger when he recalls the time a weapon was waved in his face. It compels Jaguars running back Fred Taylor to use the car with the less showy factory rims when he goes out at night. It's in the candid conversations Titans center Kevin Mawae says happen in every locker room around the league. And it's in the near whisper of Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson as he talks, for the first time publicly, about his own home invasion.

When asked about their fears, players cite the same frightening flashpoints: New Year's Day 2007, when Broncos defensive back Darrent Williams was shot and killed outside a Denver nightclub while riding in his limo; November 2007, when Taylor was murdered; June 2008, when Oakland receiver Javon Walker was robbed and beaten unconscious near the Vegas strip; and September 2008, when Jaguars lineman Richard Collier was paralyzed and had to have his leg amputated above the knee after he was shot 14 times in what police say was a retaliatory shooting. "We are targets," says Buccaneers corner Ronde Barber. "We need to be aware of that everywhere we go."

Violence against athletes is not new, of course, and not isolated to the NFL. Just last summer in Chicago, NBA players Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry were robbed in their homes. But more than any other league's, the culture of the NFL—the wealth, fame, brutality and air of invincibility—makes its players vulnerable. Broncos security chief Dave Abrams, who was hired full-time shortly after Williams was shot, says the hardest part of his job is convincing players of their own mortality. To excel at such a violent sport, he explains, they must be fearless; they think of themselves as the kind of untouchable warrior who would never require the protection of a bodyguard, an alarm system or even a locked door. The night he was murdered, Sean Taylor had neglected to turn on his home security system, even though his house had been burglarized just nine days earlier.

The NFL is attempting to flip this it-can't-happen-to-me mindset. The league provides a security consultant to each team, and most teams also have their own head of security. At his State of the League address before Super Bowl XLII, commissioner Roger Goodell said that players becoming targets was "a big issue." "We have to do everything we can to educate our players of the simple things they can do to protect themselves" Goodell said.

Portis has gotten the message. Security measures that used to be an afterthought are now part of his daily routine. Alarms that used to go unused are now turned on each night. Doors are dead-bolted. Windows are locked. Others are taking even more drastic steps. Robinson recently became a gun owner. Roethlisberger uses bodyguards for public appearances. Mawae, the NFLPA president, runs background checks on potential babysitters.

Fred Taylor, meanwhile, has equipped his Jacksonville home with every conceivable security apparatus. "I still don't think I have enough," he says. "Who knows what's enough? I wouldn't say I'm safe.

Right now, who is better to target than an athlete? Bankers are losing jobs. Real estate gurus are losing jobs. Wall Street is losing jobs. Lots of people getting humble, but an athlete's money is constant.

I know a lot of players who think, Oh, man they ain't gonna get me. I watch where I'm going. No one's sneaking up on me. I say to them, Anybody can be touched. If somebody wants to get to you, there ain't no limits. Sean was home with his family, and they got to him.

But even with what happened, I can't walk around in fear. Out of fear your reaction is going to be totally different. If I don't know you and you walk up on me too fast, do I shoot first and ask questions later? Because I'm living in fear? You could be running to tell me my car lights are on. It's tricky, though. When you put on that uniform, you have to be fearless—and it's hard to turn off. A banker in Sean's position would've probably just called the police that night. But as an athlete, Sean's reaction was embedded in him.

I don't think the NFL is ever going to be the same. It's less fun now. Everything's a worry, on and off the field. People feel like you are obligated to them. I was at a charity event the other night and I had a man come up to me and grab me, hard, as if we were close friends. It was one of those hard grabs, around the neck, the way people who don't know you shouldn't touch you. So I turned around looking at him like, uh, do I know you? And his response was "I pay your salary, I'm a season ticket holder." Now, what do season tickets cost? Twenty thousand dollars? Pay my salary? Man, I don't make $20,000.

I worked hard for what I got. This life wasn't given to me. It wasn't eenie, meanie, miney, mo: I win. I've been fighting for what I got my whole life and it was hard work. I've seen everything. I've lost family members. I've held an AK-47, I've held assault rifles. I've seen crack sitting beside me. I've seen cocaine sitting beside me. But I stayed clean and found a way to steer myself away from all that. People are upset with me because I'm successful? You should try being successful too.

But remembering Sean gives me a power, a will to fight through. Earlier this season against the Steelers, we're down 23-6, and the game's kinda over with, and I'm just in there for blitz pickup to knock heads with a linebacker. But I'm still fighting, looking for someone to punish. It's that kinda toughness. That's what I get from thinking of Sean.

The one time I was scared the most, I didn't have anybody with me. I don't want to relive all the details, but this guy brandished a weapon in my face. I kept my cool and talked my way out of it. People showed up and helped get rid of the guy. That's when I decided to have someone with me all the time.

Early on, my teammates were like, "Who does that rookie think he is?" Now guys are like, "Man, that was one of the smartest things you've ever done." And some of those same guys have actually gotten security people themselves. Having a bodyguard doesn't make you weak. I'm sure 99% of the guys in the NFL could take care of themselves in a fight. The issue is protecting yourself and what you have: your name, health, money. You're trying to save your life.

I do go to the younger, higher-profile guys on the team and just talk to them and tell them to be careful and to be smart. I keep my circle of friends real tight and real close and I don't just let anybody in.

You might go a whole lifetime and not encounter one thing. Or you may encounter 10 things in one weekend. You never know. Security doesn't mean a guy holding your hand as you're walking through a crowd. They're just there to keep an eye out. You've gotta interact with people. You have to shake hands, say hello, take pictures. You can't always be watching what people are doing behind you, and there's been more than one occasion when I was grateful to have a guy with me. Depending on the setting, you get guys who
just get really gutsy when they get a couple of drinks in them.

In September 2007, Texans cornerback Dunta Robinson was the victim of an armed robbery at his gated-community home near Houston. This is the first time the 26-year-old has spoken publicly in detail about the incident.

I never owned a gun, never thought I needed a gun—until I was robbed at gunpoint in my own home.

It was a Saturday. I'm watching college football on my couch. I look up, and guys are barging into my house, pushing guns in my face. Laid down, duct-taped, arms and legs bound behind me on my living room floor, with my kids pushed into a closet.

Scariest moment of my life.

You hear lots of stories about guys getting robbed, and you say, Man, what were they doing, how did they get into that situation? Flashy guys. Rude guys. Guys who act like they're better than everybody. I don't roll like that, and it still happened to me. I'm young. I have money. I have what they want. I definitely felt targeted, just like everyone in my position is a target.

The hardest part was that it involved my family. My son was 2, my daughter 4 or 5 months. I wanted to run, then I wanted to fight. But you can't react like Scarface in the movies, go nuts and still get out of the situation alive—this is real life. As tough as I think I am, I had to give it up, get down on the floor and do everything they asked. You can defend yourself by fighting or by thinking. I chose thinking.

What let me know I wasn't going to die was they kept calling me by my first name. I saw them looking at my face, then back to the football pictures on the wall, then one of the guys was like, "You're a good player, so I'm not going to kill you."

The whole thing really hit home for me a couple months later when Sean Taylor was killed. My mom called me crying, yelling, saying over and over, "You were just in that same situation." You see how quickly it could have went wrong.

As bad as it was, this experience changed my life for the better. It's a hard thing, as a player, to understand how vulnerable you are. What I say now is, "Hang with people who've got money. They won't want what you have if they have it."

I've heard the league say you don't need a gun. But if you haven't been in my situation, you really can't answer that question. I would never use a weapon in the wrong way or look for trouble. But I'll tell you this: I will protect my house.

Yeah, it is definitely not easy to be a professional athlete. Athlete's having tons of money to weather the storm during these times, they're so much of an easy target. It's true what they say... being famous comes at a price.

xbay wrote:Yeah, it is definitely not easy to be a professional athlete. Athlete's having tons of money to weather the storm during these times, they're so much of an easy target. It's true what they say... being famous comes at a price.

I think Derrick Brooks also had a piece about the same topic, Bada. I'll take a look for it later...

Great reads, anyway. Thanks for posting. And post your pic, dammit!!! (or send it to me via PM... I'm just that curious )

Ok, back to topic... For starters, Plax is retarded. That's a fact. Great player, but not the brightest mind around. It's just ridiculous to carry a concealed, unregistered weapon. There are laws that everybody has to follow, no matter if you're an athlete or a clerk.

With that said, and I guess this won't make me more popular with some of you, the only thing I don't like about the USA is that civilians are allowed to carry weapons. I just don't get it. Making weapons available to civilians is just a terrible idea. There are lots of deranged people out there that only need a weapon to create havoc, so it's a BIG risk to allow them to carry weapons or to have an easy way to get them. As far as I'm concerned, only security forces should be allowed to have them.

this topic is a joke, there is no equality these athletes get everything swept under the rug. if they commit a felony all they get is a slap on the wrist. in the real world we live in we'd be doing time.

"Losing is inevitably close to winning," Guber said. "They're inches apart. Drama. If you have drama, you've got a ticket to sell." "They're not real fans," Lacob said. "They don't have season tickets."